How to unbleach monti cap

[SaltyDr]

I upgraded my lights from PCs to T5s and did not adequately acclimate the corals to the more intense light (4X96 to 6X54). All has done fine except for the coralline which majorly bleached and a monticap frag that was mounted high up in the tank. The upgraded lighting happened a few months back. The coralline has made a near complete recovery. The monti cap has continued to grow but it has not recovered it's color. I don't think its the light spectrum that it making it look bleached, but rather it IS bleached. Other than keeping good parameters, is there anything that can be done to help the coloration? I am running a phosban reactor and thought that might be contributing to it.

 

[luvmylo]

I would cut my light cycle back to very minimal and also I've read that dosing amino acids (sparingly) will help get some color back good luck bro

 

[SaltyDr]

Since it has been running like this for a few months, do you think going back now to a shorter photoperiod will help? I recently bought a new leather and frogspawn and did cut back to using only 4 lights for a week, although this was not likely needed since they were under 250W halides in the store.

 

[xtm]

The GFO might have something to do with it. The sudden clarity of the water, combined with the sudden intense light (from PC's to T5's) could have stressed the Monti Cap, especially since it's positioned near the surface. Try using screens above the coral to acclimate it to lighting. I've used Plexiglas sheets (3) and gradually removed them one by one each week until the coral is acclimated.

Do you feed your corals? That is another factor that I look at when my SPS are getting pale. That happens when the water is nutrient poor.

In my experience, Amino Acids DO work. It has worked for me. The frag on this picture was severely pale before I started dosing AA: